Cleveland ramps up security for Republican National Convention

The City of Cleveland says it needs roughly 3,000 police officers to secure the city this week. To accomplish this, they've temporarily hired 2,500 officers from across the country. (WGME)

CLEVELAND (WGME) -- The Republican National Convention begins Monday in Cleveland. Security and safety are the two words looming in Ohio and across the globe.

The City of Cleveland says it needs roughly 3,000 police officers to secure the city this week. That's an unprecedented number.

To accomplish this, they've temporarily hired 2,500 officers from across the country.

A hand full of officers are from Maine. They left late last week.

More than 50,000 people are expected for the Republican National Convention.

This could be a tempting target for an attack.

A number of security rules are in place to keep those people safe.

While weapons are banned inside the convention, they are permitted in areas outside.

Ohio is an open carry state, which means you can holster your hand gun in public.

Over the weekend, a Cleveland police union asked Ohio Governor John Kasich to suspend the state's open carry gun laws during the convention, but Kasich said he was not authorized to make that kind of decision.

"Of course there was some anxiety to make sure that the things that we put in place were actually going to work the way we planned them. We always know in an operation this big that there are going to be some adjustments and our plan is made so that we can adjust on the fly and we've made some tweaks here and there and I’m sure throughout the week we'll make adjustments also,” Chief Calvin Williams, Cleveland Police Department, said.

The city has also ordered 2,000 sets of riot gear to prepare their officers for the worst.